robots

Universal Robots has launched in India amid much fanfare and high-powered diplomacy. The Danish Ambassador to India, Peter Taksøe-Jensen, did the honours by officially launching Universal Robots during a ceremony at the Le Meridian, New Delhi.

Universal, a Danish company which was bought by US industrial giant Teradyne last year, considers itself a pioneer in collaborative robots, and its new product range was unveiled at the India launch event by Esben Østergaard, Universal’s chief technology officer, along with Pradeep David, the company’s general manager, India.

McDonald’s plans to open 25,000 robot-run fast food restaurants this year

Technology moves so fast there’s rarely enough time to grab a burger before the next iPhone update. And even if you do find the time to visit a fast food restaurant, it’s increasingly likely that it will be a robot that will be preparing your food and possibly even serving you, not to mention charging you for their efforts to seem human while carrying out their customer service duties.

One of the many perks of being the boss of a reasonably sized company is having your own personal assistant, someone who you can dictate letters to, someone who keeps your diary updated, answers your phones and helps you organise your time so you are as efficient and as productive as you can be at work.

A good PA is often very highly paid, commensurate with the company and business sector he or she works for, and their image as super-fast typists and excellent organisers is one that is often celebrated and acknowledged.

It seems obvious now that in the event of an earthquake, tiny, swarm robots would be the most effective way of locating survivors in huge piles of rubble through which human emergency workers and first responders cannot make their way or even see.

So obvious that you wonder why they haven’t been developed and even deployed for that purpose already. Certainly the technology seems to be advanced enough – research into the area has been going at an accelerated pace for some time.

Looking at pictures of the collapsed building in Taiwan after the earthquake there on Saturday, there looks to be no way to go in for the emergency workers trying to rescue the survivors. The magnitude-7.6 quake is reported to have killed at least 41 people and more than 100 are said to be trapped in the rubble in that building alone. [Read more…] about Tiny swarm robots could become first responders after earthquakes

Cruise liner company Costa Group has signed an exclusive agreement with the French company Aldebaran for a pilot project with Pepper robots.

Aldebaran, which is a subsidiary of the SoftBank Group through SoftBank Robotics Corp, said the contract was worth more than a million euros.

Pepper is the world’s first robot that reads main human emotions, says the company, adding that it is ideally suited to help and delight guests on board of cruise ships. Aldebaran adds that Pepper will improve guest experience and provide help and entertainment on board the ships of the Costa Group’s cruise brands: AIDA and Costa. [Read more…] about Costa Group to test Pepper humanoid robots on cruise liners

For those of us fortunate enough to spend our time shopping, and perhaps think of ourselves as discerning shoppers, one of the more pleasant experiences when buying fruit is evaluating them on a number of factors, such as colour, texture, firmness and aroma.

Chris Roberts

This final selection process tends to happen at the store, after the fruit supplier has already played its part in initially choosing the most suitable produce for the shops it supplies.

Robotiq has launched its newest Force Torque Sensor: the FT 300, which the company says brings “a sense of touch to your robot”.

The Force Torque Sensor FT 300 has plug and play integration on all Universal Robots, making automation of high-precision tasks such as product testing, assembly and precise part insertion easy and fast to set up.

The Force Torque Sensor FT 300 is specially designed for Universal Robots. The easy integration includes a smooth mechanical fit, integration and programming. This new Sensor will open up a whole range of force sensitive applications that will be fast and easy to automate, says the company. [Read more…] about Robotiq launches new FT 300 force torque sensor

Epson Robots, which claims to be the top SCARA robot manufacturer in the world, has added Cimtec Automation as the newest member of its growing distribution network.

The agreement includes distribution of all of Epson Robots automation products including their large lineup of SCARA, 6-Axis and Linear Module robots as well as integrated vision, fieldbus I/O and many other industrial automation products offered by Epson Robots.